Football

Westland names Goebbel as coach

Kyle Goebbel is looking forward to his first varsity football head coaching assignment.

Pending school board approval, he will be the next coach at Westland High School.

Goebbel would replace Steve White, who resigned after last season. White was coach for three seasons, compiling a record of 3-27 overall and 0-21 in the OCC-Central Division, and was an assistant under Brian Smith in 2010.

“Westland has unbelievable potential,” Goebbel said. “It has the three things that you basically need to win. You have tough kids, you have very good athletes and these kids have all the motivation in the world to get after it and turn things around.”

But Goebbel realizes he faces a rebuilding process. In 2013, Westland finished 1-9 overall and 0-7 in the league.

“What I’m looking to do is make those players feel a very big sense of pride in playing Westland football, and that’s really what I want to build,” he said. “I want to build a positive environment that kids gravitate towards.”

Goebbel, 34, was the offensive coordinator at Olentangy from 2009-12 and the quarterbacks coach at Olentangy Orange last season. During his stint at Olentangy, the Braves finished 10-2 in 2012 and reached the Division I, Region 3 playoffs, losing to Hilliard Davidson 29-14 in a regional semifinal.

“I hang my hat on that season,” Goebbel said. “It was the best season in Olentangy history and really one of the best offensive seasons.”

Goebbel is a 1998 graduate of Delaware, where he played quarterback. He then played football for one season at California University of Pennsylvania before transferring to Bowling Green, from which he graduated in 2002 with a degree in integrated social studies. He did not play football at Bowling Green.

Goebbel, who is a social studies teacher at Orange, comes from a family rich in football coaching tradition. His father, Mike, has more than 40 years of coaching experience, including 14 as a head coach at the high school level.

Mike was an assistant at Delaware during Kyle’s high school career and a graduate assistant under Woody Hayes at Ohio State for two years. He currently is tight ends coach at Ohio Dominican.

Kyle’s brother, Todd, is the offensive coordinator at Ohio Dominican and his brother, Aaron, is an associate athletics director at Marshall University.

Westland athletics director Greg Burke said Goebbel came highly recommended from coaches throughout the OCC.

“Kyle is from a football family and we knew that the fiber of who he is and what he is is strengthened because he’s been around it for so long and around good, quality coaches whose records spoke for themselves,” Burke said. “We knew that the football IQ would be very high.”

Kyle’s wife, Jen Odebrecht, coached the Orange girls soccer team from its inception in 2008 until resigning in November. The couple had their first child, Reece, in September.